MDES 25 - Mushi-gotchi, Parfum, and are you there, Spring?

The Mushi-gotchi

It’s week 10, and we’re bordering on spring – I think. Monday is a beautiful sunny day – ‘taps aff’ weather as we call it in Scotland – which makes me instantly happy. I walk to PCA with my sunglasses on, taking in the surroundings and appreciating the newly blossomed cherry trees. In thesis class, we go over the mysterious ‘Annex’ and peer edit one another’s conclusions: a true sign that we are reaching the end, just that final push to get it done! Afterwards, I head home to read my idea of a ‘self-help’ book for realists: ‘The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck’, which is laugh out loud funny whilst providing some tough love.

The next day I head over to Hanna’s flat to work on thesis. We do some peer-editing and Hanna helps me create mock-up invitations for my ‘clothing funeral’. Yes, you read that right. Stay tuned for more, or hit me up if you wan’t to read about it in my thesis, HA.

On Wednesday I work on my thesis at PCA, and later meet Karen Ralph from the Research and Writing Lab for an extremely helpful session. In the evening, I meet Hanna at Le Troisième café for their amateur chef night. 3 courses for 13€: not bad, until you can barely walk from all the food in your belly!

Palais de Justice

Thursday morning begins with a class field trip (Intellectual Property Rights) to the Palais de Justice, the main court house in Paris. Stephanie – an IPR lawyer, as well as our teacher – gives us a tour and we get to sit in on a criminal court case, pretty intense, and interesting! That afternoon, we have Design Studio class, where we develop our MVP (minimum viable product) as part of the business plans we’ve been creating with help from Diane. Rica, Hanna and I work on the ‘Mushi-gotchi’, a modern-day tamagotchi to help people grow their own mushrooms. Stroke of genius, we know! Then we have Professional Practice Workshop, where interior designer and architect Marie Deroudilhe speaks to us about her area of expertise. Afterwards, Rica and I feast on pizza at Sette, delicious as always.

On Friday, myself and students from the Photography and Fashion Design courses visit Mane Headquarters – fragrance creators – to hear about the parfum project we will be taking part in. We learn about the family business and all the different types of scents. It proves to be super interesting, a real nose work-out, and I will probably never look at the perfume the same way!

For the project, we have to create stories centred around our own individual scent, and then one person will be chosen to develop their scent with Mane perfumers, which will then be distributed at the end of year show. Exciting stuff!

On Saturday I work at Hanna’s with Amy. Hanna feeds me delicious Martini’s, and onion and potato soup. I’m so spoilt. I virtually forget about Easter amongst all the thesis writing madness. My mum had sent me an easter egg a while back, and of course I ate it then, oops. So I celebrate by cooking myself a giant veggie chilli and feasting on that instead, very traditional. I just hope that now April has begun, we’ll get to enjoy lovely spring weather in Paris.